Loralee glanced at the audience, crunching a few toes on the way to her reserved seat. It occurred to her how much the audience seemed like a flock of crows on the branches of a large tree, their feathers fluffed, preparing themselves for the evening, content with the view.

Arriving at last at her seat, Loralee looked at the stage, admiring the ballet dancers. A prince leaped through the air onto the stage. A white-feathered princess swan with feathers in her hair preened and sparkled before him on the center stage. The prince stepped towards the princess, picked her up in his arms, and reached out with her toward the audience. The princess looked passionately at him and then at the audience, her arms and legs alternating in different positions and angles seeming not humanly possible. She touched the stage with her satin-covered feet and floated away, fluttering her arms behind her. The music was dramatic, then serene. The story portrayed the two doomed lovers.

How beautiful but tragic. Loralee sniffled.

"Excuse me, please. Pardon me." Closer and closer the voice came, until--thwunk--a man sat in the empty seat beside her. "Hello. Sorry for the crash landing. Nice to see you."

Mmm. Sexy cologne, and her favorite for men--Chanel No. 5.

Loralee nodded and smiled glancing toward the voice, her attention distracted from the performers on stage. What does he want? He looked civil enough except for the silly grin.

"Excuse me, I’m Richard. You’re..."

"Ssh."  Loralee put her finger to her lips.

She continued to watch the ballet with a smile on her face.  After a few moments she glanced towards the man beside her. He was humming, and it entranced her. She felt light. Her spirit soared to him.

Well, that was it. She had lost her focus. He’d diverted her attention by his off-tune scatting.

She’d read about focusing. Time to try it. The man carried on continuing to disturb her train of thought. The show was over as far as she was concerned.  The fact that he was attractive didn’t help. Wonderful. Now I’m thinking about him. Where had she seen him before?

Her friend and roommate, Angie, who was always preaching sage advice of one kind or another, said that if you can’t solve or remember something, "Throw it out to the universe, and it’ll come back with the answer."  But sitting close to someone so attractive, singing in her ear, stifled any other thoughts in her mind.

On stage, clinging together, the dancers separated, leaped into the air, and landed softly, swaying back and forth. It was beautiful to see such movement. What a wonderful--

A paper jabbed her arm and she looked into twinkling blue eyes.

He whispered, "You dropped your program."

She snatched the paper from him. "Thank you." Her voice broke in an attempt to sound harsh.

"Shush." A woman on her other side hissed and threw her an annoyed stare over her purple rhinestone glasses.

The man in front turned to glare at the two noisemakers. Furrowed, bushy eyebrows and beady eyes above a hooked nose made the whole scene even more bizarre.

Richard leaned toward Loralee and mumbled loudly, "Not the best seats in the house, are they?"

There was a sudden chorus of "shhs" and "tchs tchs" and "Be quiet, will you?" surrounding them.

Loralee wished she had gone to see the new George Clooney film instead.

He whispered in her ear, "Excuse me, are you upset because..."

Loralee abruptly stood up and shuffled past the people in her row.  She pardoned herself a dozen times, ran up the aisle and out the door.

As she jumped into a cab to make a quick escape, a voice from the theatre entrance yelled, "Loralee. Wait. Wait." 

Too late.

Birds of a Feather - 2 >>>(Continue)